Sewing machine



01.1o,1939. l RLLYONS 2,175,612

SEWING MACHINE Filed ot. 8, 11936 l @wilg/Wfl Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE SEWING MACHINE Application October 8,

14 Claims.

In my Patent No. 2,033,080, granted March 3, 1936, for Button sewing machines, is disclosed a single needle sewing machine adapted to sew a four hole button or a similar article to work by two independent sets of stitches, this being accomplished by placing the sets of stitches successively and causing the thread to part after the rst set of stitches has been made, the thread being clamped at a suitable time to cause the operation of the stitching instrumentalities to effect breaking of the thread, and all in a single continuous operation of the machine.

It has been found that when changes of thread are made with the mechanism shown in that patent it is often necessary to change the thread tension also, in order to ensure breaking of the thread, and with some types of thread to employ a tension during normal stitching heavier than would otherwise be necessary.

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to improve the machine so that the desired parting of the thread may be ensured without requiring a close adjustment or a greater thread tension at any time than is desirable for proper sewing, and so that the machine will be fully effective to accomplish the results desired under al1 operating conditions without requiring any particular attention on the part of the operator to ensure the thread parting at the proper time. For this purpose, provision is made in the present invention, when the thread is to be parted, for effecting a momentary separation of the Work and the loop taking mechanism while the thread is held clamped, and to an extent suilicient to ensure such parting of the thread. The most convenient way of accomplishing this is to momentarily move the work to the necessary extent away from the loop taking mechanism, either by manipulation of the article clamp or the cloth plate, after which the manipulated part is' returned to normal stitching position for the placing of the subsequent set of stitches.

For a more complete understanding of this invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the sewing machine partly broken away and showing one embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a detail section on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the lifter cam and follower.

Figure 4 is a detail section on line 4 4 of Figure 1.

1936, Serial No. 104,620

Figure 5 is a detail in perspective showing a modification.

Referring to Figures l and 2, I indicates a bed of the sewing machine with the rear portion, from which rises the usual post 2 carrying the forwardly extended sewing arm 3 having the stitch ing head 4 at its forward end. At 5 is indicated the needle bar which forms a part of the sewing instrumentalities, a needle 6 being carried by the lower end of this bar for cooperating with loop taking mechanism, which, as shown includes a rotary loop taker l of conventional form, mounted in the machine base I. Above the loop taker l' and supported on the upper face of the bed I is the usual cloth plate 8 provided with a pair of transverse slots 9 through which the needle may pass. Above the cloth plate is a button or other article clamp I 0. In order to provide for stitching alternately through two holes of each pair in the button, the cloth plate 8 and the clamp IU are supported on a block I I whichis pivotally mounted in the well known manner so as to permit the cloth plate and the button clamp to be given a motion transverse to the needle path between successive stitching operations. Th cloth plate and the button clamp may also be given a back and forth motion transverse to the lateral direction in order to present the second pair of holesl in the button into the needle path after stitches have been placed through the rst pair of holes. The lateral motion of the work holders which comprise the cloth plate and the button clamp may be accomplished by any suitable means, but as herein shown this is accomn plished through the lateral motion of an arm I2 actuated from a cam I3 through a lever I4 having a follower roll I5 riding in a cam groove I6 in the cam I 3, vthis being a common and well understood manner of accomplishing such motion. The back and ,forth motion of the work holders is accomplished by a cam I7 having a cam groove Ill therein in which rides a follower I9 on a lever 2l), this lever 20 being connected through a link 22 (see Figure 2) with a lever 23 having one end engaging in a suitable slot 24 of the block II. As shown the work holders are pivotally mounted so that they may be raised from their normal sewing position into the dash line position shown in Figure 1.

The cams I'I and I3 are driven in timed relation to the sewing instrumentalities as by means of the drive shaft 25 having the usual belt pulleys 29 at its rear end. The shaft 25 is sho-wn as provided with a worm 26 which meshes with worm wheels 2'I. and 28 xed to the cams I3 and I 1,

respectively. The shaft drives the loop taker "I, as through the intermeshing gears and 3| on the shaft 25, and on the looper shaft 32, respectively, while the needle bar is actuated in the usual manner as by the two crank arms 35.

As in my Patent No. 2,033,080, to which reference has heretofore been made, at is positioned the usual thread tension and at 4| and 42 are positioned other thread tensions corresponding to the thread tensions 35, 36, and 31, respectively, of the patent, and provision is made through the lowering of a rod 43 after the stitches have been placed in the first pair of holes in the button to grip the thread at the tension 42, to release the thread at the tension 4|, and to actuate the thread pull off 44 to pull off a supply of thread for the stitching operation through the second set of holes in the button after the thread has been broken. The action of these tensions and the thread pull off may be precisely that shown and described in my patent, the present inven tion having to do with the manner in which the breaking of the thread is ensured.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, at 50 is shown a work holder lifter which comprises a rod or lever pivoted as at 500 to an upstanding post 52. This rod extends forwardly and its forward end is arranged to engage beneath a pin 5| shown as threaded into a boss 54 which may be used to carry a post 53 to which may be secured the screw 55. To this screw may be attached the lower end of a chain 56, the upper end of which is attached to an arm 51 secured to the work holder lifting shaft 58 which may be actuated in the well known manner as by treadle mechanism (not shown) connected through a chain 59 with an arm 50 secured to the shaft 58. The rod 50 may be arranged to be raised when it is desired to break the needle thread and when the needle thread is clamped at the tension 42. This is accomplished by cam means which may be a part of the cam Il. As shown herein this cam has a cam bump thereon which is arranged to cooperate with a follower 66. This follower 6B is shown as the lower end of a rod 61 slidable through a hollow post 68. The lower end of this post as at 58 is threaded for engagement with a threaded hole in the top face of the base I and it may be provided with a portion of polygonal cross section as at 10 by which it may be turned. The upper end of the rod 61 has vertically adjustable thereon and separate from the post 68 a head 1| provided with a slot 'l2 in which the lifter 50 rests when in its normal position. The head 1| is shown as provided with a set screw 13 by which the rod 6l may be fixed thereto in any adjusted position of height desired. This provides for adjustment for the height to which the work holder is raised in accordance with the thickness of the work. When the cloth is positioned beneath the button clamp and the clamp rests thereon, the set screw 'i3 may be loosened and the head 1| lifted until the forward end of the lifter 50 is in engagement with the under side of the pin 5| where it may be xed by manipulation of the set screw i3. The amount to which the button clamp will be lifted when the cam bump 65 passes beneath the follower 66 is then added to the thickness of the cloth which determines the initial lowered position of the button, thus to determine the final limit of height to which the button clamp is lifted when the lifter is actuated.

The parts are so timed that after the first set of stitches are made through the first pair of holes in the button, the thread is gripped at the tension 42 and a length is pulled off back of the tension 42 to provide for suflicient length of thread end to start the formation of a succeeding set of stitches. While the thread is held so clamped, the lifter is raised momentarily by the bump passing beneath the follower 66 which thus separates the work from the loop taking mechanism suiiicient to ensure the breaking of the thread, it being understood that the needle is passed through the same hole in the button twice at the end of the placing of the rst stitches in order to knot the thread in the Well known manner. At the time that the automatic lifting occurs, the thread from the gripping point at the tension 42 extends down through the needle eye, through the button and the work, around the looper, and back to the work, where it is secured to the work by the knotting stitch loop. The raising of the work by the lifter thus increases the length of the thread path beyond the stretching capacity of the thread which is therefore broken, and the break occurs adjacent to the knotting loop, or between it and the looper, in the same manner that it does at the end of the stitching operation when the machine has stopped and the operator raises the button clamp in accordance with the usual practice. As the cam bump 55 rides out from beneath the follower 66, the button clamp is allowed to drop down against the work, and it may be pressed down against the work by a spring (not shown) as is common with machines of this type. The button clamp and work holder are then moved to present a hole of the second pair in the button into the needle path and after the thread end has been pulled out from vthe knot, across the face of the button and down through the work the thread tension 42 is released, and the stitching proceeds, the stitches being placed alternately through the second set of holes in the button until the machine cycle is complete. 'Ihe thread having been knotted finally as by passing the needle through the same hole in the button twice the machine is then stopped in the well understood manner automatically. It will thus be seen that the button or other article is stitched to the work by two independent sets of stitches placed sequentially, using but a single needle thread which is caused to part between the placing of the successive sets of stitches.

In place of lifting the button clamp to ensure breakage of the thread, the cloth plate may be lifted if desired. This is shown in the modification illustrated in Figure 5, in which the cloth plate is provided with a reinforcing block 80 threaded to receive the inner end of a removable pin 8| and the forward end of the lifter is bent downwardly and forwardly to engage beneath this pin 8| as shown at 82. While the cloth plate is not commonly pivotally mounted for raising from the upper face of the machine base, yet it is commonly made of resilient material which will yield to a sufficient extent to permit suicient raising of the cloth plate to be effected to ensure breakage of the thread. Of course, it could be pivotally mounted to move with the button clamp if desired. In any case where conditions are such that the thread will part at the desired time without fail, and without effecting a relative separation motion between the work and the loop taking mechanism, the pins 5| or 8| may be removed so that the lifter becomes inoperative.

From the foregoing description of certain embodiments of this invention, it should be evident to those skilled in the art that Various changes and modications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A sewing machine for attaching four hole buttons to work, which comprises work and button supporting means, sewing instrumentalities including a needle and loop taking mechanism, means for actuating said instrumentalities to place stitches, means acting during a continuous machine operation to relatively move said instrumentalities and supporting means to present alternate holes of a pair in the button in the needle path during a predetermined number of needle strokes and then to present alternate holes of the other pair in the button into the needle path to cause two sets of stitches to be placed, one set passing through each pair of holes in the button, means actuable between the placing of said two sets of stitches for clamping the sewing thread, means actuable to move at least a portion of said supporting means away from said mechanism suiiiciently to effect severance of the sewing thread when the thread is clamped, and means acting while the thread is clamped to so actuate said moving means.

2. A sewing machine comprising means for supporting work, means for supporting an article to be attached to the work by stitches, sewing instrumentalities including loop taking Vmechanism beneath said work supporting means, and a needle cooperating with said mechanism to make said attaching stitches, means for actuating said instrumentalities, means for moving said article supporting means and needle relatively laterally between successive stitches in opposite directions to cause said instrumentalities to form lines oi stitches on the face of said article and after a predetermined number of stitches have been placed to effect another relative movement to cause succeeding lateral motions to place lines of stitches differently located from the first-mentioned lines, all during a continuous machine operation, means acting after the first lines of stitches have been placed to clamp the sewing thread, and means acting while the thread is so clamped to momentarily lift at least one of said supporting means suiiiciently to cause the thread to part, whereby the article is secured to the work by two independent sets of stitches placed during a single continuous operation of the machine.

3. A sewing machin-e comprising means for supporting work, means for supporting an article to be attached to the work by stitches, sewing instrumentalities including loop taking mechanism beneath said work supporting means and a needle cooperating with said mechanism to make said attaching stitches, means for actuating said instrumentalities, means for moving said article supporting means and needle relatively laterally between successive stitches in opposite directions to cause said instrumentalities to form lines of stitches on the face of said article, and after a predetermined number of stitches have been placed to effect relative movement between said article supporting means and needle transverse to said lateral direction to cause succeeding lateral motions to place lines of stitching substantially parallel to said rst-mentioned lines all during a continuous machine operation, means acting after the iirst lines of stitches have been placed to clamp the sewing thread, and means acting while the thread is so clamped to momentarily lift at least one of said supporting means sufficiently to cause the thread to part, whereby the article is secured to the work by independent substantially parallel sets of stitches placed during a single continuous operation of the machine.

4. A sewing machine comprising a work holder on which work is supported, sewing instrumentalities including loop taking mechanism beneath said work holder, and a needle cooperating with said mechanism, means for actuating said instrumentalities, and means actuated at a predetermined time during a continuous sewing operation to lift said holder from its normal position.

5. A sewing machine comprising a work holder on which work is supported, sewing instrumentalities including loop taking mechanism beneath said work holder, and a needle cooperating with said mechanism, means for actuating said instrumentalities, means for clamping the sewing thread at a predetermined time during continued operation of the machine, and means driven in time with said actuating means and acting to lift said holder momentarily while the thread is so clamped suicently to cause parting of the thread.

6. A sewing machine comprising a work holder on which work is supported, sewing instrumentalities including loop taking mechanism beneath said work holder, and a needle cooperating with said mechanism, means for actuating said instrumentalities, means for clamping the sewing thread at a predetermined time during continued operation oi the machine, means for lifting said holder sufficiently to cause parting of the thread when the thread is so clamped, means actuated in time with said actuating means and acting to actuate said lifting means momentarily while the thread is clamped sufciently to cause parting of the thread, and means drawing off a supply of thread back of said clamping means suicient for the resumption of normal stitching on the release of the thread after the thread end has been drawn away from the rst set of stitches and the return of said support to normal position, whereby the sewing is eiected in a plurality of independent sets of stitches during a single continuous machine operation.

7. A sewing machine comprising a work holder on which work is supported, sewing instrumentalities including loop taking mechanism beneath said work holder and a needle cooperating with said mechanism, means for actuating said instrumentalities, means for clamping the sewing thread at a predetermined time during the sewing operation, means for lifting said holder, means actuating said lifting means momentarily while the thread is so clamped suiiiciently to cause parting of the thread, and means for adjusting the height to which said holder is raised in accordance with the thickness of the work.

8. A sewing machine having a holder for supporting work, sewing instrumentalities including loop taking mechanism beneath said work holder and a needle cooperating with said mechanism to form stitches, means for actuating said instrumentalities, means supporting said holder for lifting from its normal operative position, a cam movable in time with the actuation of said instrumentalities, a lifter operatively engaging said holder, and a cam follower engaging said lifter, said cam having a part cooperating with said follower to actuate said lifter to lift said holder momentarily during the continuous operation of said instrumentalities in a sewing operation in which a plurality of stitches are placed.

9. A sewing machine having a holder for supporting work, sewing instrumentalities including 75 loop taking mechanism beneath said work holder and a needle cooperating with said mechanism to form stitches, means for actuating said instrumentalities, means supporting said holder for lifting from its normal operative position, a cam movable in time with the actuation of said instrumentalities, a lifter operatively engaging said holder, and a cam follower engaging said lifter, said cam having a part cooperating with said follower to actuate said lifter to lift said holder momentarily during the continuous operation of said instrumentalities in a sewing operation in which a pltuality of stitches are placed, said operating engagement including a part disengageable to operatively disconnect said lifter from said holder.

10. A sewing machine having a holder for supporting work, sewing instrumentalities including loop taking mechanism beneath said work holder and a needle cooperating with said mechanism to form stitches, means for actuating said instrumentalities, means supporting said holder for lifting from its normal operative position, a cam movable in time with the actuation of said instrumentalities, a lifter operatively engaging said holder, and a cam follower engaging said lifter, said cam having a part cooperating with said follower to actuate said lifter to lift said holder momentarily during the continuous operation of said instrumentalities in a sewing operation in which a plurality of stitches are placed, said follower having a connection to said lifter adjustable in accordance with the thickness of a portion of the work.

11. A sewing machine having a cloth plate, a button clamp above said cloth plate and normally resting on the work on said cloth plate when the machine is stitching, sewing instrumentalities for securing a button held by said clamp to cloth on said cloth plate, means actuating said instrumentalities, and means acting automatically while said machine is running and between certain stitch-forming actions of said instrumentalities to lift said button clamp from its normal operative position.

12. A sewing machine having a cloth plate, a button clamp above said cloth plate and normally resting on the work on said cloth plate when the machine is stitching, sewing instrumentalities for securing a button held by said clamp to cloth on said cloth plate, means actuating said instrumentalities, and means acting automatically while said machine is running and between certain stitch-forming actions of said instrumentalities to lift said cloth plate from its normal operative position.

13. A sewing machine having a work holder, sewing instrumentalities, means for actuating said instrumentalities to place stitches in work carried by said holder, a cam driven in time with said actuating means, a lifter operatively connected to said holder, an element having a socket to receive said lifter, an upright guideway, a cam follower slidable in said guideway and resting on said cam, and means for securing said follower to said element.

14. A sewing machine for attaching articles to work by a plurality of independent sets of stitches, said machine comprising work and article-supporting means, sewing instrumentalities, means for actuating said instrumentalities to sew the article to the work, thread-clamping means, means for moving at least a portion of said supporting means and a portion of said instrumentalities relatively from and toward each other to an extent sulcient when said portions are moved from each other while the thread is clamped to break the thread, means acting automatically to actuate said clamp to clamp the thread before the end of the sewing operation and then to release the thread for subsequent sewing all while the machine is running, and means driven in time with said actuating means acting while the thread is so clamped to actuate said moving means momentarily to separate said portions sufciently to break the thread and then to return them to normal sewing relation for resumption of stitching.

ROBERT L. LYONS. 

